John recently did a wet plate photoshoot for The Ninetree Stumblers, a three-piece band that performs vintage American music of 1920s and ’30s. The band is headed by Liam Kirby, with Ruth Gordon and Dan Weltman. Here’s what their website says about them:
Born a hundred years late and 4000 miles too far East, The Ninetree Stumblers dredge up nuggets of the Old Weird America from the crackly grooves of 78RPM shellac. Three multi-instrumentalists from Bristol, UK, the band trade guitars, banjos, fiddles and more, clambering from song to song through shows that set Moonshine-fuelled hoedowns against sombre Baptist hymns, cockeyed ragtime and sweetheart waltzes.
The Ninetree Stumblers released their Debut EP, ‘Sigogglin’, in late 2014 as a pay-as-you-feel digital offering, and will be dragging their ever-growing instrument collection to the UK Folk Festival circuit this summer, with sets planned at Fire In the Mountain, Sidmouth Folkweek and Bath Folk Festival. Their monthly podcast, The Ninetree Stumblers Radio Hour, mixes live takes with original pre-War recordings and the latest tracks from the contemporary Old Time scene.
It was a fab day and both the musicians and their instruments proved very photogenic, as you can see from the images below.
